NBC Affiliate Taps Harmonic for DTV and iTV Coverage of Winter Games

During the Winter Olympics, KSL-TV, NBC's affiliate in Salt Lake City, used Harmonic's DiviCom digital video encoding and remultiplexing system for digital broadcasts of the events.

The Harmonic system allowed the station to deliver multiple digital services, including HD and SD television, as well as digital radio and data through its 19.4 Mbps of ATSC bandwidth. KSL-TV's signal covers seven states, the largest reach of any local U.S. broadcaster, and is demonstrating the effects of the digital transition.

"We faced a monumental task in managing our digital spectrum during the 2002 Winter Games. We needed to broadcast NBC's high definition coverage, a standard definition DTV signal, continue service to our traditional analog viewers and lease extra bandwidth to WOW Digital TV to demonstrate DTV reception and ITV technologies," said a station official. WOW builds low-cost, set-top receivers for digital and analog TV sets.

To meet some of these difficulties, KSL teamed with Harmonic and WOW Digital TV to upgrade the system with Harmonic's enhanced DiviTrackXE technology.